This personal and well informed selection and description of the most interesting towns and individual buildings and archaeological sites in Turkey is the definitive guidebook for the discerning traveler. The author has been visiting Turkey for nearly fifty years and is the perfect companion for those who want to know about more than the obvious attractions. This book will immeasurably enhance any thoughtful traveler's visit, but can also be read at home as an aid to planning, or recalling, a trip, or simply as a guide to the astonishing and multi-faceted artistic and architectural riches of that most fascinating country.

Remember your visit to the Tower of London for ever with this fascinating expanding pocket guide. Bring to life one of the most famous landmarks in Britain with this fascinating three-dimensional expanding pocket guide. Unfolding to a length of 1.5 metres, the guide features twelve three-dimensional panels on key sites including the White Tower, the Crown Jewels, Tower Green, the Chapel Royal, the ravens, Traitors' Gate, the Yeoman Warders, torture, the Line of Kings, the Bloody Tower and the Royal Menagerie. Published in association with Historic Royal Palaces, this is the perfect souvenir or gift for anyone wishing to remember a trip to the Tower of London or learn more about it.

As Vietnam moves towards urbanisation, the country's agricultural labour force faces losing its land to urban projects - and its way of life. The country's growing population is reducing the availability of farming land and rural families, no longer able to sustain themselves from the land, are turning to the creation of various products. These 'craft' villages have become the meeting place between rural and urban, agriculture and industry. During the last decade, along with rapid national economic development many craft villages have increased production up to five fold through small-scale industrial development. However, the consequence of this shift is increased waste and environmental pollution with the resources of the landscape becoming overused. Tessa Bunney spent two six month periods in Vietnam and visited many of these villages. The traditional village house is typically single storey and consists of three rooms. The large central room is a multi-purpose living, sleeping and working area and it is in this room where many of Tessa's images are taken, the mix of work and everyday objects fascinating her visually. Interspersed with images from daily life in the rice fields and in the villages, these photographs depict 'working from home' in an unromanticized sense, where their subjects, mostly women, balance childcare with the routine work necessary for survival.

This photographic Tokyo travel guide explores the dynamic Japanese culture, art and architecture that make Tokyo a unique, world-class city. It has been said that "every city has its high points, but Tokyo is all exclamation points!" The largest and most populous city in the world, Tokyo is best experienced in-person. The next best way? Through Tokyo Megacity--a visual and descriptive exploration of a city that combines old with new and traditional with trendy, like no other city in the world. This extraordinary book explores Tokyo through more than 250 revealing photographs by well-known photographer Ben Simmons and over 30 essays by famed author Donald Richie. Their love of the city, sense of its history, and the deep respect and pure joy felt in being here, shine through on every page. Simmons and Richie show us how modern Tokyo evolved from a patchwork of villages that still exist today as distinct neighborhoods and districts to the modern, trendsetting metropolis renowned the world over--that combine to make Tokyo a unique and special place. Tokyo Megacity presents the districts of the city in the order that they originally developed, starting with the Imperial Palace, sliding down to the "Low City" along the Sumida River, soaring back up to the "Mid-City," and finally, climbing the hills to the newer districts of the "High City." The combination of Ben Simmons' photographs and Donald Richie's text capture the tremendous diversity, vitality and sheer livability of Tokyo. This new edition is updated with recent photos, up-to-date revisions and new sections on the Tsukiji Fish Market and Tokyo Skytree.

The second book from Sunday Times bestselling author Linda Fairley. 'No matter how many babies I deliver, each and every one is a miracle, connecting me to the world like nothing else, reminding me that we are all equal in the beginning, and in the end. It's a great leveller, childbirth.' It's January 1972 and times have changed since Linda first stepped onto a maternity ward four years earlier. Gone are the starched skirts and steaming milk kitchens of the 1960s; these are the exhilarating days of disposable equipment and new technology. The Pill will soon be free to all women, and more and more fathers are daring to brave the delivery room. At the newly-opened Ashton maternity unit the midwives' spirits are high, and, in spite of the dark cloud of laundry strikes on the horizon, there's the scent of a new era on the cold winter wind. But one thing has stayed the same - the babies keep coming. Year after year, Linda faithfully helps the women of Greater Manchester through their most vulnerable and emotional hours, whether it is by giving calm instructions over the phone to a panicking husband, delivering a baby unexpectedly in a hospital lift, or by dashing headlong to the rescue of a snowed-in mum-to-be. As 25-year-old Linda becomes a mother herself she understands, more than ever, what a precious gift it is to bring children into the world, and she holds each new baby just that little bit tighter. As the years roll by Linda finds herself delivering the babies of mothers and fathers she helped to bring into the world decades earlier - making her something of a local celebrity. Through the highs and lows, through the modernisations that transform the hospital and the world outside, Linda's passion for midwifery burns as bright as ever. With 42 years of experience Linda is one of Britain's longest-serving midwives, and reaching the retirement age in 2008 didn't stop her doing the job she loves. Although she has seen generations of women give birth and delivered more than 2,000 babies, she treats every new arrival like the new miracle it is.

John Comino-James has photographed the streets, shops and shopkeepers in the centre of Thame, an historic market town some 45 miles from London. Portraits, texts and candid photographs are contained in a sequence representing a meandering walk through the town, during which we encounter not only the shops and shopkeepers but also the last cattle market operating in the area, travelling showmen at one of the two annual fairs, and the weekly street market. The accompanying interviews reveal pride in the continuation of family businesses, as well as small enterprises both challenged by and benefiting from the increasing impact of the internet. While the presence of supermarkets and services such as banks, travel agents and estate agents is acknowledged, in choosing subjects for portraits Comino-James was drawn to those shopkeepers whose aim might be summed up in the words of one of them: to keep the character of Thame as a Market Town and not a Supermarket town.

"Beijing Portrait of a City" is a captivating collection of stories, essays, poetry and reminiscence by leading China authors, storytellers and academics, about a city they know from the inside. The book is the shared work of some of the city's finest writers who lead us through 'hutong' alleys, antique markets, artists' communities, gay bars, parks and the nostalgic streets of memory. They beguile with poems, amuse with camel anecdotes and thrill with two murder stories - one a genuine antique, the other a fictional contemporary. They take us back to the often-ignored Mongolian roots of the city and project forward to ask whether spectacular modern architecture will suffice to return Beijing to what it sees as its ancient place at the centre of the world. Compiled by Alexandra Pearson and Lucy Cavender, the book interweaves its written work with a collection of wry and telling photographs of different aspects of the city, creating a compelling portrait of Beijing. The contributors - including Zhu Wen, Adam Williams, Roy Kesey, Ma Jian, Alfreda Murck, Tim Clissold, Catherine Sampson, Peter Hessler, Karen Smith, Paul French, Michael Aldrich, Hong Ying and Rob Gifford, all published authors and experts in their field - have spent many years living in Beijing and know it from the inside. Their individual contributions combine to leave a highly original and unforgettable impression of one of the world's oldest and most fascinating cities.

The Sunday Times bestseller 'Delivering my first baby is a memory that will stay with me forever. Just feeling the warmth of a newborn head in your hands, that new life, there's honestly nothing like it... I've since brought more than 2,200 babies into the world, and I still tingle with excitement every time.' It's the summer of 1968 and St Mary's Maternity Hospital in Manchester is a place from a bygone age. It is filled with starched white hats and full skirts, steaming laundries and milk kitchens, strict curfews and bellowed commands. It is a time of homebirths, swaddling and dangerous anaesthetics. It was this world that Linda Fairley entered as a trainee midwife aged just 19 years old. From the moment Linda delivered her first baby - racing across rain-splattered Manchester street on her trusty moped in the dead of night - Linda knew she'd found her vocation. 'The midwife's here!' they always exclaimed, joined in their joyful chorus by relieved husbands, mothers, grandmothers and whoever else had found themselves in close proximity to a woman about to give birth. Under the strict supervision of community midwife Mrs Tattershall, Linda's gruellingly long days were spent on overcrowded wards pinning Terry nappies, making up bottles and sterilizing bedpans - and above all helping women in need. Her life was a succession of emergencies, successes and tragedies: a never-ending chain of actions which made all the difference between life and death. There was Mrs Petty who gave birth in heartbreaking poverty; Mrs Drew who confided to Linda that the triplets she was carrying were not in fact her husband's; and Muriel Turner, whose dangerously premature baby boy survived - against all the odds. Forty years later Linda's passion for midwifery burns as bright as ever as she is now celebrated as one of Britain's longest-serving midwives, still holding the lives of mothers and children in her own two hands. Rich in period detail and told with a good dose of Manchester humour, The Midwife's Here! is the extraordinary, heartwarming tale of a truly inspiring woman.

In this boxed collection of 35 pocket-size cards you'll find a happy mix of specially-devised cycling routes around London and the surrounding countryside. The cycle-route cards include peaceful inner city rides, rides that start out in the city then head out into the countryside, and routes that start outside the capital and can be easily reached by a short train journey. * Inspirational bike rides - handy, pocket size cards that brim with photos and artwork that bring the tour to life * Box includes transparent sleeve - if it rains you can pop the card into the sleeve to protect it from the elements * Memorable expeditions - these ingeniously through-out routes make clever use of green lanes, cycle paths and bridleways. Did you know that you can cycle from Wapping to Hertford using traffic-free paths and only a handful of quiet city streets? Little-known routes will seamlessly transport you from the city to secluded country lanes and villages * Routes for everyone - most of the routes take one day, making a cycle escape ideal for clearing your head but knowing you'll be back by teatime! The rides are mainly easy, great for families, as well as a few that are longer and more challenging * All the planning is done for you - each card has a map, route instructions, points of interest and essential information including train connections Pocket a card, leave the box on your bookshelf and enjoy a glorious day out on your bike.

This award-winning author's nineteenth novel explores the effects of the closing months of World War II on a small community in a corner of north Wales. The story is told through two voices, the local rector and a German countess in his care as a displaced person. A young conscientious objector and a gifted German prisoner of war contest the love of the rector's idealistic daughter, while the two narrators and their families negotiate the fall of fascism and nationalism and the effects of winning the war on older, established relationships.

The reputed home of the Queen of Sheba, Yemen has been at the crossroads of Africa, the Middle East and Asia for thousands of years thanks to its position on the ancient spice routes. Ten thousand years of trade along Yemen's Red Sea and Indian Ocean coasts, over its mountains and across its deserts made it a meeting point of people, ideas, money and goods and the centuries of trading generated much wealth. There has been a British presence in Yemen ever since the early 1600s when the East India Company set up trading posts in Mukha (Mocha in the west), a port then famous as the world centre for trade in coffee. In 1839 the port city of Aden was captured to provide a base to protect British trade routes. This began an even stronger relationship which would last some 130 years until 1967 when the Britain finally pulled out, having granted independence after several years of insurgency against British rule including riots and attacks on its troops.But Britain's links do not end there. Yemen is the mother country of the longest-established of Britain's Muslim communities. Yemenis came to Britain from the 1890s onwards, many as an indirect result of having joined the British Merchant Navy, and after World War Two there was further emigration. By the mid-1970s there were some 15,000 Yemenis in Britain, though today this figure has shrunk back considerably. One of the poorest countries in the region, Yemen still maintains much of its tribal character and old ways. People wear traditional dress and the custom of chewing the narcotic plant khat in the afternoons is still widely observed. Yemen remains a country of great mystery and in recent years it has attracted the curiosity of a growing number of the more adventurous tourists.

A visual journey exploring one of Southeast Asia's most beautiful destinations. Through more than 250 stunning photographs, readers are taken across the length and breadth of this culturally and geographically diverse archipelago--from the chocolate hills of Bohol to the country's northernmost province of Batanes. Often overlooked by travelers to Southeast Asia, the islands are home to spectacular white-sand beaches, bubbling volcanoes, 2000-year-old rice terraces, and some of the best surfing and diving in the world. This book captures the islands' stunningly varied natural landscapes, and provides an insight into the lives of the Filipino people--from centuries-old traditions and religious festivals to exquisite craftsmanship and warm hospitality.

"It makes me feel guilty that anybody should have such a good time doing what they are supposed to do." - Charles Eames on architecture. "A doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines." - Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture. Architectural travel is on the rise. With this book you not only have a reference book of 150 of the world's most iconic private homes, but also a bucket list to plan your next country or city trip. These homes are unique, either because of the aesthetics of the interiors, the construction, or the sophisticated design. This is the ultimate architecture travel wish list. For each house, the authors provide a lively description of the building and its owners, in addition to the specifics of architect, date, and location. 150 Houses You Need to Visit Before You Die is the ultimate 'architecture bucket list' and the sequel to the successful 150 Bars You Need to Visit before You Die, 150 Restaurants You Need to Visit Before You Die and 150 Hotels You Need to Visit before You Die. Features houses in: Belgium, France, Spain, the US, Brazil, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Morocco, Portugal, Venezuela, Switzerland, Russia, Germany, Mexico, Italy, Scotland, Austria, Denmark, Finland, Solvenia, Hawaii, Australia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, Japan, Israel, Canada, Serbia, Poland, Norway, and England, by architects such as Moshe Safdie, Kisho Kurokawa, Harry Seidler, Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott, Alvar Aalto, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Carlo Mollino, Carlo Scarpa, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Bruno Taut, Max Bill, Mario Botta, Gio Ponti, Adolf Loos, Eero Saarinen, Frank Lloyd Wright, Georgia O'Keeffe, Richard Neutra, Antoni Gaudi, and Victor Horta.

A spectacular accordion-folded gift book that is a love letter to the city of Paris, as seen in panoramic views high above the city streetsRooftop Paris presents a unique panoramic and comprehensive visual tour of one of the world's most iconic cityscapes. From eight vantage points above the city, photographer Laurent Dequick invites you to explore, from dawn to dusk, a seemingly infinite landscape of zinc, slate, and copper from which emerge the great gilded monuments of the City of Light. Short essays focus on key Paris neighborhoods, and call-out captions on the photographs highlight notable buildings. The book is produced in an accordion-style concertina format that would stretch to 125 feet (38 meters) if fully unfolded. It is bound between hardcovers and inserted in a sturdy slipcase.

Explore & Discover South Wales (formerly Photographing South Wales) guides you to the most beautiful places on the Pembrokeshire coast, the Brecon Beacons, Carmarthenshire, the Gower, Ceredigion, South East Wales and Powys. With a foreword by the broadcaster Kate Humble. In this comprehensive 448-page photo-location and visitors guidebook Drew Buckley takes us along the Pembrokeshire coast visiting the most photogenic locations for photography: sandy beaches, cliff tops, rocky stacks emerging from the sea, panoramic headlands, lighthouses, fishing villages and harbours, seaside towns, and woodlands filled with wild garlic and bluebells. Included is the Gower, with its towering sea cliffs and big vistas, Carmarthenshire's Laugharne castle and Dylan Thomas's writing shed, and many locations in South East Wales including the Welsh capital of Cardiff and its bay. Then it's up the peaks of the Brecon Beacons for lofty views over the surrounding bucolic countryside, down the Monmouthshire & Brecon canal, and he guides us around Waterfall Country, perhaps the best place in the UK for autumn waterfall photography. Further north locations in Ceredigion are described and the dark sky area of the Elan valley, including the nearby red kite centre. This visitor and photo-location guidebook Includes topographic OS maps, co-ordinates and directions for all locations, and recommendations on where to eat and stay, along with advice on the best time to visit and take photographs.

What are the English about? This question has vexed many peopled, including the English and the French at different times. This book looks at all of the myths, all of the stereotypes and all of the things, good and bad, that people have had to say about the English.

Brian Cunningham's popular first book, Under the Bonnet, was a colourful and humorous collection of memories of his time as a car mechanic in the 1970s and '80s. When he wrote it, he was sure he had put everything of interest down, but it turns out there were quite a few escapades he'd forgotten to mention. Time, then, for part two . . . When the Wheels Come Off is a joyous return, covering what he missed first time round: cars fixed and some broken, fads and crazes, crashes and scrapes and near misses, evolutionary dead-ends in technology, underhanded practices and downright skulduggery, run-ins with management, the tools used, the cars 'stolen' and scrapyards visited. A lively and engaging trip back to the workshop.

Although spare, sweeping landscapes may appear "empty," plains and prairies afford a rich, unique aesthetic experience—one of quiet sunrises and dramatic storms, hidden treasures and abundant wildlife, infinite horizons and omnipresent wind, all worthy of contemplation and celebration.  In this series of narratives, photographs, and hand-drawn maps, Tyra Olstad blends scholarly research with first-hand observation to explore topics such as wildness and wilderness, travel and tourism, preservation and conservation, expectations and acceptance, and even dreams and reality in the context of parks, prairies, and wild, open places. In so doing, she invites readers to reconsider the meaning of "emptiness" and ask larger, deeper questions such as: how do people experience the world? How do we shape places and how do places shape us? Above all, what does it mean to experience that exhilarating effect known as Zen of the plains?

'Rough Beauty' is a powerful and moving insight into the struggle of the community of Vidor, Texas, against poverty and its past links to the Ku Klux Klan.